As a form of government that checks abuses in government,
federalism can pit a state government against that of the union. In fact,
several state governments should be able to hold back encroachments from the
federal government, and that government in turn should have the wherewithal to
stop abuses of power in a state government. The appeals of protesters in
Bulgaria, the poorest E.U. state, to the E.U. in July 2013 exemplify how not to invoke this function of a federal
government. The question regards how the Bulgarians got it wrong.
Bulgarian protesters appeal to the E.U. to stop corruption in Bulgaria. Federalism itself can be seen visually in this picture by looking at the flags. Image Source: Euronews.
The full essay is at "Essays on the E.U. Political Economy," available at Amazon.